From n.p.r. News in Washington d.c. This is Weekend Edition. Of our good morning the president is escalating his fight with the n.f.l. This morning calling on fans to boycott games when players protest racism during the national anthem we'll hear reaction also America's population is aging but there are more options for elder care than ever before we'll have advice on what to look out for plus the book Dangerous Liaisons had many many retellings the latest one sets it in 1940 s. Harlem and still has lots of steamy scenes and you'll meet my new dog adopted after hurricane Irma how I found the puppy and why I took him home it's Sunday September 24th news next. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Barbara Kline were public and Senator Susan Collins says she'll likely vote no on a bill repealing parts of the Affordable Care Act N.P.R.'s Scott d'être reports that puts the bill on the brink of defeat this final attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare has the same math as before with such a narrow margin in the Senate and no democratic support Republicans can only lose 2 votes or the bill won't pass John McCain and Rand Paul have already said they're voting no Collins sounds like she'll likely join them it's very difficult for me to and the narrative and scenario where I read and voting for this Bill Collins spoke on C.N.N.'s State of the Union she says she's worried about how the bill would affect Medicaid among other things but Collins says she'll wait to see analysis from the Congressional Budget Office before making a final decision Scott Petro n.p.r. News rhetoric between President Trump and North Korea is sharpening Trump tweeted today North Korean leaders quote won't be around much longer after North Korea's foreign minister told the u.n. General Assembly yesterday young young will take quote merciless preventative action if there's any sign of a u.s. Attack in addition to verbal threats Jason Strother in Seoul reports the u.s. Military has made a show of strength off North Korea's east coast the b. One bombers and 15 sea jets were dispatched from u.s. Bases in Guam and Japan the Pentagon says they flew over international waters and further north of the demilitarized zone than any other American military jets are bombers have this century South Korea says this is the most effective countermeasure against the North missile and nuclear programs Jason Strother reporting from Seoul and f.l. Officials are blasting President Trump who is again tweeting today that players who nailed during the national anthem should be fired for disrespecting the flag and the country patriots see. And warriors head coach Steve Kerr say the players are exercising a hallmark of American democracy by peacefully protesting to affect social change German voters are casting ballots in today's national elections from Berlin as Nicholson reports polls indicate Chancellor Merkel will win a 4th term while Merkel's conservative block is on track to return to government more policies is set to enter Parliament this year potentially making it harder than in previous years for Michael to form a ruling coalition the latest polls suggest that support for Merkel has slipped to 34 percent and that the Social Democrats are down to 21 percent Meanwhile the rightwing anti is Alternative for Germany party is up 2 points at 13 percent meaning it could end up as the 3rd largest party and as opposition need it if the conservatives and social democrats form another grand coalition for n.p.r. News I'm Azmi Nicholson in Berlin this is n.p.r. . The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says the exodus of Muslims from Bangladesh is the world's most urgent refugee emergency and the b.b.c. Reports an international aid agency says it's no longer able to help thousands in desperate need the International Rescue Committee has been active for decades in Ra and states the center of the current crisis that even Miliband told the b.b.c. That its health and education work as well now unable to work because they were confined to their offices by the authorities he called on countries which give me an ma military to military support to use that influence and make the points that help in improving security couldn't be used to bend monetary and rules or most $430000.00 people have ended neighboring Bangladesh in the past month fleeing a military crackdown the B.B.C.'s Jill McIvor ring pressure is mounting on Iraqi Kurds to drop their independence referendum that's scheduled to be held tomorrow Iran is holding is halting flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan in retaliation and is conducting war games at the border Iran and Turkey are concerned Kurdish separatists in their countries will be emboldened by Iraqi Kurds referendum Iraq the us and the u.n. Also oppose the vote separatists in Spain's Catalonia region are defying Spanish authorities today distributing some 1000000 ballots for an independence vote a week from today Madrid calls the vote illegal and Spanish police have been confiscating ballots. N.p.r. News support for n.p.r. Comes from a whether it's investing advice banking or retirement t.i.a.a. Believe smart financial decisions should enable life not define it. Calls this the new success story more at CIA dot org. Include Rev a Capital Bank. Since 2004 with 3 branches of Fortuna and are. Provides a financial services from checking and savings products to consumer and commercial lending. Member f.d.i.c. This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Luke Varro Good morning President Trump has opened up a new front in the culture wars at a rally on Friday he called for n.f.l. Players protesting racism to be fired suggested that new concussion safety rules had ruined the game and he disinvited n.p.r. Star Steph Curry from the White House this morning he called for football fans to boycott games with protesting players and the sports world has reacted and f l commissioner Roger Goodell called the comments divisive and be a star Le Bron James called the president a bomb and this morning in London football players from the Ravens and the Jaguars kneeled and linked arms in solidarity Howard Bryant of e.s.p.n. Joins us now good morning Howard good morning how are you I'm good you saw it again this morning. The beginning of it yes yes yeah what was the significance of both sides including Jacksonville owner shot Khan showing their solidarity Well I think the significance is that the years starting to see mobilization of a business that is offended by what the White House said the other day and I think that I'm not over overly optimistic that it's going to create some sort of a new front in this because there's a quarterback named Collin Cavanagh of this league still did not hire and still has not even brought in for a tryout I call it or not he started this obviously by kneeling during the national anthem that's right in end of the week still hasn't even looked at him to play so it's not as if they've turned over any sort of new leaf or what you are seeing is the league protecting its business and I think you're seeing a little bit more of the the players together trying to send the message that they're offended by what the president did and that they're showing a little bit more solidarity with each other which I think is significant when you say protecting its business what do you mean by that well what I mean. By that is that the league makes money off of these black men these men are it's a 70 percent black league this is an issue that's very important to them and to have the president sort of inflame this question is it's created some more sympathy for the players and I think that what we know about n.f.l. Owners is that they want these issues to go away the last thing they want is anything that they think is going to affect their business and now you've got a president calling for a boycott of of a 13000000000 dollar industry I think this is something that they know they don't want what are the stakes for the athletes themselves particularly athletes of color who want to get involved I mean we saw all these athletes this morning taking the need a lot of them hadn't done that before. Well I think that the implications are always there the stakes are very high for the players because the players especially in the n.f.l. They don't all have security you're looking at a kid yesterday with the Oakland A's who Maxwell who really is a rookie has no security whatsoever if the league wanted to get rid of him they could so the players are taking a lot of risk here I think what's really interesting about that risk is they're willing to do this and it's not simply over police brutality anymore they're making a direct affront to the president and I think that's very fascinating about it is that they're not willing to to budge and I think that we've seen this over time we've seen players who have lost everything calling cabinet doesn't have a job and Tonio Cromartie doesn't have a job Craig Hodges when he played with the Chicago Bulls was blackballed So it's not like there's no risk here for the players that's Howard Bryant of e.s.p.n. Dot com and e.s.p.n. The magazine thank you so very much my pleasure. From politics on the field to the policy debate over health care Republicans have proposed a new health care bill that they hope to bring to a vote this week Sen John McCain announced on Friday that he could not in good conscience vote for it and now Senator Susan Collins has said on c.n.n. That it would be difficult to envision a scenario where she'll vote for the bill the bill needs 50 votes to pass and its future is now further in doubt So what happens now known Levy covers health care for the l.a. Times and he joined me in the studio and we started off by talking about what's in that health care proposal number one what this bill does is to essentially blow up the whole system that the federal government uses to provide safety net health coverage to almost $100000000.00 Americans. And what the what the bill would then do is redistribute money between states moving money from states that have expanded coverage through the Affordable Care Act states like Kentucky West Virginia Arkansas and shifts it to states that have not expanded their safety nets Texas Florida and some other primarily red states every independent analysis of what this proposal would do suggests that many many Americans poor Americans will likely lose health coverage. So you're saying that this is not only going to affect people on the exchanges but also people who are on Medicaid and Medicare that's right the Affordable Care Act extended coverage to 20000000 previously uninsured Americans and the important thing to understand about the law is that it did that in a number of different ways the marketplaces the exchanges have gotten the lion's share of attention here but the amount of money and assistance that's gone to states to expand eligibility for Medicaid is enormous and if in fact there were most of the gains in coverage have been and for the same reason what centers Graham and Kassie are proposing because it would cut Medicaid so dramatically over time would erode coverage most dramatically there as well the Affordable Care Act is still in force and how is it doing so there are substantial challenges for the Affordable Care Act Right now there are a lot of Americans who are seeing their health insurance premiums rise in some cases very steeply. These are primarily the Americans who get health insurance on their own These are people who don't qualify for government programs and don't get health insurance through an employer it's a relatively small part of the American health care system but nonetheless for 1020000000 Americans this is real. So there is an overwhelming feeling on the part of health insurers on the part of hospitals doctors and actually on the part of of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle that something should be done to bolster health insurance markets where these people get their coverage so when we look at this what is the future of the Affordable Care Act Now we don't know where the Senate has only until the end of next week before a deadline passes and they can know the Republicans can no longer use this process that allows them to pass a bill with a simple majority in the Senate. The conventional wisdom would suggest that once that deadline is passed Republicans want to move on to something else they want to move on to tax reform so perhaps is the Affordable Care Act protected and it may be but one thing I think this year has shown is that there is such an appetite on the right on the conservative base of the Republican Party to repeal Obamacare that it's very hard for a lot of Republican politicians to simply drop this. Noam Levy covers health care for the l.a. Times thank you so much for joining us my pleasure. It's been 5 days since Mexico was rocked by a 7 point one magnitude earthquake search and rescue efforts continue their alarms sounded again yesterday as another earthquake hit that's the 3rd earthquake there in under 3 weeks and p.r.s. Carrie Kahn has been reporting from Mexico City this week Carrie thanks so much for joining us. So I know and I can hear that you're out on the streets of Mexico City in the neighborhood can you tell me what what you're seeing it's it's very very sad around here this is a neighborhood that you know very well and it's got a lot of old architecture old buildings and a lot of art deco buildings an area that I am right now just every other one seems to have major damage to it and also sitting in a park that has an art deco monument that's sort of emblematic of the area here and it is now just covered with goods that people are bringing this is become a distribution site so that I could see tons of buckets here people are making boxes and they're filling them up with water with canned goods with rice with beans and it's just a buzz of activity right now that's the neighborhood where you live and it used to be the neighborhood where I lived when I was based in Mexico City and as N.P.R.'s correspondent I'm curious it is an area that is considered to be a hub of restaurants of tourism of the artistic scene how this has impacted the community it's really devastating Lou And I'm sure if you walked around here and went to your old Hans and digs he would find them you know covered with yellow tape or cordoned off there's so many buildings that have major damage here it's really it's really sad I was out on Friday night which you know they can barely walk in the streets there's so many clubs and restaurants and it was empty and lots. Parts of the neighborhood are still dark and so in the dark of the night all you could see was the yellow tape cordoning off these buildings that need to be inspected the one I'm sitting in front of right now has a major crack in it and I think it's probably 8 stories tall it's really scary people are on edge about whether there's going to another aftershock whether some are going to fall again it's devastating to the neighborhood and really sad I was reading in the Mexican press that there's been an appeal by some of the families standing outside some of these collapsed buildings that they desperately don't want heavy machinery to be taken in to go through the rubble after these search and rescue operations are called off because in the last earthquake in 1905 that massive earthquake in Mexico City a lot of bodies and body parts ended up in the city's dump and they don't want that to happen again are you seeing that are your people talking about that at all a big concern to relatives that are holding vigil outside these collapsed building sites hoping that rescuers can get to some of their loved ones are very anxious and on edge that the rescue efforts are going to be pulled and there's been demonstrations there's been outcries I've just talked to relatives that just saw that the thought of the officials ending their search for their loved ones that's going to be a difficult time when that decision has to be made N.P.R.'s Carrie Kahn speaking with us from lock on this neighborhood of Mexico City thank you so much and stay safe Thanks for having me. You're listening to n.p.r. News. It's. A place where the produce department. And many other. 3 days. With your help this week. Republican Senator Susan Collins says she's strong. On the latest g.o.p. Bill to dismantle the Affordable Care Act She says she's concerned about the impact on Medicaid. Figures are striking back at President Trump who continues to tweet the players who take. Them should be fired Patriots c.e.o. Robert Kraft head coach Steve Kerr say the players are peacefully protesting. Democracy. To the polls today. Chancellor. Expected to win a 4th term a far right wing party is also expected to win seats. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from pro Quest partners with the u.s.c. Show a foundation to enable access to the visual history archive for helping students and researchers understand the impact of genocide through video interviews with survivors learn more at Pro Quest dot com and from future of storytelling presenting the future of Storytelling Festival 3 days of technology interactive games and performances October 6th in New York City future of storytelling dot org This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm luke of r o and this is the call in and today we're talking about elder care America's population is aging by 2050 there are expected to be over 83000000 people age 65 and over that's double what there was in 2012 elder care is a big business now and it's only expected to grow we asked you to call in and share your thoughts time my name is Mary Carl Rosenberg I'm calling from Tucson Arizona I'm responding to the question about elder care it's a really hard one for me to juggle I originally had visited with my grandma and. I recently lost my father at the age of 100 the last. 2 years in our family home father is 98 years old he lives them independent living facility at this point are but I do a lot to help her as I did for my dad before he passed away thanks much thank you so much thank you. Nelda maze called us she lives in Atlanta and she's taking care of her aging father while working full time and being a wife and mother and it's hard my dad is 87 he just had his 3rd stroke. He was immediately after the stroke unable to move on his right side and could not speak he went to a rehabilitation center for about a month and he learned to walk with a walker and work with a speech therapist and can talk he is now at home he has 247 care he is not cognitively they are totally So now I have managed care how did you make the decision to keep your dad at home and who did you make the decision with I didn't make the decision with anybody because it's what my dad wanted How many siblings do you have and have they been able to help I have 3 I have 2 sisters and a brother my sister that lives in Nevada has been fantastic she set up all his bills to be paid online and she monitors as his credit cards and that kind of thing my other 2 siblings have not participated is that a source of tension Yes and you got 247 care why did you choose that because. I couldn't be there 24 hours a day you know I run a business and I have a son and. We were very very lucky that my father had put in place long term care insurance and it has not kicked in yet but he has been approved that will help some of it and then my father has put in place some monies and I have figured out my mind that we can do this sounds expensive them oh it's outrageously expensive but so is a retirement community and he couldn't do a retirement community at this point it would be assisted living and and their expenses What's your advice to others making these kinds of decisions for their parents. You know at this point my advice would be sort of like with a newborn rest when when they rest because there's no rest you know yesterday was a perfect example I thought I had a full day of work and he called me you know his caregiver called me and said that his blood pressure was high I called the doctor and the doctor said bring him into my whole day was done so. Get in what you can you know rest when you can it's exhausting. What would you want to place for yourself now that you've gone through this you must have thought about it I have my husband I have talked about you know getting a long term care insurance I have one child and I just wouldn't want to do this to him I say to him a lot in a joking way because I don't want to freak him out but I say to him a lot you know gosh if it was May I would want to be around people I know and they're my a and you know at those communities they take you to the movies and to the grocery store I'd like to go there morrow and you know I say things like that time so that when my time comes he'll feel Ok because he'll think well this is what mom wanted. Because I don't know that I would want this for him. Know the maze lives in Atlanta thank you so very much for talking with us thank you now and Toby Tyrrell called in to tell us about why she is reluctant to start thinking about elder care for herself even though she knows she has to I'm 76 years young I moved to port towns in in 1991 from Vermont I am a creative arts teacher I've always spent my life working with kids in a classroom what options if you considered about your own elder care Well one option is a fantasy but my son was in Denver and I had this fantasy that I would go back to Denver and live near him not in house even though he has a separate little entrance area but lives near my grandson who's 12 and be within like walking distance so I would be part of that it's a difficult choice for me to think about getting older and needing other people to help me you play the piano for residents of a nursing home I'm right way for people that have dementia and Alzheimer's regularly once a month. And I play at a retirement home and how has that made you think about nursing home since you. Are any more often than most people and makes me not want to be in a nursing home why. I had to I accidentally broke my hip 2 years ago or maybe 3 years ago and I'm a very active person I'm in good shape and. And I had to be in this place for 13 days and my son was far away New York and they're busy only choice they wouldn't let me go home from the hospital and that experience traumatized me and came in my room 4 times a night there's no locks on the door the food was horrible I lost 10 pounds and like I'm giving over my life to other people to make decisions for me when I want to make decisions for my life it's just to me feels like jail and you know I have like what 2 major things I have little vision in my right eye and left eye is good I'm intelligent and I I don't know how to seek you I just want to thrive here have you talked about it with your with your son I've tried to reach the subject a few times and when I go to Denver when he comes here we kind of skirt around the issue and I tell him you know wouldn't it be nice if I could come and either renter by a kind of mini and that's about as far as we get He's very busy and I don't know he just doesn't go there with me. Maybe I have to try harder. Now and Toby Tyrrell of Port Townsend Washington thank you very much thank you Lou Take care there are a variety of options for those needing help as they age home health as we heard from Delta Mays allows people to come into your home and care for you there and there's independent living as in a retirement community assisted living which may allow you to have your own apartment but in a facility with medical care and nursing homes for people who are no longer independent finally is a former Florida state nursing home on but it's men and he's now the executive director of Families for better care in Texas we asked Lee what people should know when they start looking into the different care options the most important things that they should know is that all of these different care options have different state laws rules regulations federal laws that oversee them it's really good to be aware of what those are nursing homes there are federal laws and regulations that protect residents in a residence rights the nursing homes have the most protections and the nursing homes are being inspected on a very frequent basis but once you go down into assisted living and once you get into the end of in a living and home health the laws or regulations or protections are going to be very different because there are no federal laws or regulations so what you find in Florida is what you find in Colorado and Alaska and everywhere in between. Is going to be different as far as what the oversight is like and what given residents rights and protections are there in those assisted living and independent living so if I was looking at these options in the market what's I look for the number one thing I usually like to tell people is that every state someplace is going to be a state repository of inspection information and there's a federal website for nursing homes but when it comes to 11 other facilities they'll have hopefully some information out there on a state website I would look to find those websites and learn as much as possible about those laws and regulations and to just do a deep dive into these especially reports and look at those get a feel for what problems are out there the 2nd thing that I would look for is a Budget Office look to them because then but it's been our visiting facilities and talking to residents and talking to families probably more than anyone else the 3rd thing I would do is that I want to schedule some time to go to that place and see what the life is like what the care is like personally and let them give you a tour of walking around the facility and while you're doing that is when folks really need to pay attention to not only what the administrators are saying in the sales pitch but also to kind of glean what's happening as you're walking through you know use your sensors you want to hear how staff are talking to residents you're also looking to smell around the facility if you walk into the building the doors open up and then you're bowled over by the smell of urine and feces which that's happened to me but the times that's probably not going to be the place we want to put your loved one because that could mean an underlying problem of staff responsiveness to help residents if they've definite on themselves or had your in or tried to factions or there's going to be times where they're messes and you may smell that and see that we're walking through but it should not be a pervasive smell so using those senses and then sit down for a meal talk with the residents listen to what they have to tell you. When I'm sitting down with the residents is there something that I should be looking for when I'm looking at them. Yes you want to look at the residents and see if they're clean and they don't look to shovelled something as simple as just looking to see if a resident has shirt that's but with a bunch of match the bun holes match that there's no food that's crust on the residents face or that they've been cleaned and their hair is well kept and their nail nails are trimmed that says a lot again about the staffing whether or not the staff is there to care for the residents get them out of bed gets into the bathroom get them to the take a shower bath keep them clean you know if this was your grandmother that's in a nursing home she should look presentable when you're looking at your own care in the future may ask what you've what plans you're making and what you've thought about for yourself. You know what you're the 1st person ever asked me that. Because you know we're not only my advocating for the elderly for today but I'm advocating for myself really tomorrow and for my family I think if I was think about options for myself I would definitely look 1st at home health because I really love home and I've been a lot of facilities and I don't think that you know where there really is a nation yet to care where I want to see this you know I we were still having discussions about people who have been neglected to death because we have a power generator in a nursing home to our n.h. Tax system you would think something is no brainers that we'd have this figured out and it be in place. We still have that figured out so we saw a lot of work to do to make sure about Brian Lee was the Florida state nursing home on Bud's mn from 2003 to 2011 and is now executive director of Families for better care in Texas thank you very much thank you and next week on the call in the business of sports I mean kids sports it's a 15000000000 dollar industry are you a parent who is spending money on registration fees travel camps and equipment are you spending time and emotional energy How are you making it work and is it worth it call in 822-216-1217 with your experiences or stories Be sure to include your full name your contact info where you're from and we may use them on the air that number again 2 or 22161217. The. Weekend Edition is a production of n.p.r. News which is solely responsible for its content like a story you heard on this or another n.p.r. Program share it with a friend at npr dot org While there you can also hear stories you missed enjoy expanded content or connect to your favorite member station. And. You're listening to Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News. Catalonia is a region in Spain that has its own language its own cuisine and unique culture you may be familiar with its most famous city. It's also an economic powerhouse providing one 5th of Spain's economy a week from now its citizens though are going to the polls to vote on independence if it's a seize it would have enormous implications not only for Spain but also for the increasingly fragile European Union the Spanish government has been trying to stop the referendum using arrests and repression Catalans have responded by taking to the streets the situation is tense and I took it as a spokesperson forgot that one country's in the International Commission of European citizens and she supports the referendum She joins us via Skype from Boston on that welcome to the program thank you very much secession is illegal under Spain's Constitution and polls show that while a majority do want to vote people are divided on whether there should actually be independence so what's the point the point is that the referendum is not secession the referendum is actually to decide whether they had their own society wants or not the up and up and as not a better democratic school than a referendum and that if the resort is a victory for Depp and thence that we will catch a republic. Could you just tell me exactly what are the reasons why you want to become independent from Spain what are the actual grievances catch on so what we won't East or the laws that we have proof in our part of man to have an effect for example that we have proof against energetical a pope so households they don't need to be cattle for electricity for one month that you don't pay your bill we have proof that my absolute majority in our parliament and then much rate says that that cannot be the case so they put it aside Egan how actually are people going to get to the ballot boxes if Spain is taking away these ballot boxes I mean how logistically will it happen we are that's home and to be there their polling stations have been already announced we all know where we have to go to cast our votes so it's going to be thousands thousands of people outside the court in the station so it will be at the Spanish they prerogative to decide you know he wants to keep on this a drag just madness way you'll find the standing democracy or either they come to terms and they understand that they can just not use violence on the can just not take away ballot boxes in not democracy I mean they have to cite what they are We've seen pictures of thousands of people taking to the streets have been of better said on what is the scene there describe the mood. There's this happiness of knowing these are people that we know who we are we know our rights and we had meant to vote and to exercise them all crazy you can see if for example when you go to a chair restaurant and you open the man you know inside the man you know there's a paper that says we will vote to be free and you look at the waitress and you see that she's smiling I'm the owner of the restaurant and you see this like a complete victory in amongst all of us as. We all share the standing of democratic a stand. And add a king is a spokesperson for the got the Latin countries in the International Commission of European citizens the referendum is scheduled for October 1st she's speaking to us via Skype from Barcelona thank you so much thank you. This is n.p.r. News this week on This American Life than 10 years a black comedian who gives advice to men having trouble with women sex for males like pizza sauce is Jesus even if it's lousy is still pretty good and sex for woman is like exactly like she has to be in the mood for it how about you guys he inspired ended up marching with the white supremacists and Charlottesville that this week. And both this morning at 11 right here on Cape you and the vision center not Tom interest Paul the man shocked are proud to support public radio located at 616 h. Street in Eureka the vision center provides eye care and I where 443-1619. 3. With these headlines President Trump is tweeting threats that North Korea's foreign minister and leader Kim Jong un won't be around much longer Trump's attack today follows North Korea's threatening comments to the u.n. General Assembly yesterday the president is expected to announce new restrictions on travel to the u.s. Today his ban on visitors from 6 Muslim majority countries expires today in Puerto Rico the Port of San Juan is back open allowing fresh water and food on to the island devastated by Hurricane Maria Maria is still a hurricane forecasters warn people along the Carolinas and the Mid Atlantic coast to keep an eye on the Category 2 storm. N.p.r. News. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from u.c. Davis a university committed to solving problems in food energy health education and the environment u.c. Davis works to improve quality of life for all more at 21st century dot u.c. Davis dot edu and from the financial services firm of Raymond James offering personalized wealth management advice and banking and capital markets expertise along with a legacy of putting clients financial wellbeing 1st learn more at Raymond James dot com This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Luke r.c.n. Of r o. In the new book on forgivable love you will find a lot of hot steamy and Dangerous Liaisons and it is indeed a retelling of the 782 French novel lives on. This version has just as much betrayal and bed hopping as the original but it's set in a glamorous 940 s. Harlem authors the Fronius Scott joins us now welcome to the program thank you Lou I'm happy to be here there are so many versions of this book over the centuries and I must say I've loved them all. This is the 1st time though this story of a wrist across behaving badly has been set in Harlem talking about the world that these characters inhabit. You know I wanted to create a world that where money wasn't an issue and to tell a story about the Harlem elite that you don't really hear much about you know I 1st learned about this particular society in Harlem through the story of Madam c.j. Walker you know who's one of the 1st black women millionaires from her hair care products and all and I just thought well what if this decadent beautiful story played out among the elite of Harlem you know people who went to the fabulous nightclubs and listened to all the wonderful jazz that was going on there and Warren Christopher you know I Yeah exactly p.r.s. I keep thinking about people like Lena Horne you know and in the beautiful gowns that she wore in those movies I thought let's tell that story that way I want to get to the physicality of this book at a minute but I you know you were talking about how familiar this tale is but in your version lots of assumptions about the story are subverted let's start with the main character of the Countess when your book is made Malvo and what sets her on a path of vengeance is the loss of her 1st love who is a woman yes you know I I went into this rebuilding these characters because I was curious about them and in the original novel and also in the Christopher Hampton play on Broadway there's a moment where you know the whole thing is you know she wants to get this young girl seduced but there's a moment in the play and in the book where she says you know if I were willing to cross that line I would do it myself and I just whenever I see that moment in the play or read that was like oh what is that about right right so the value on character in your book is valiant Jackson and he said you know archetype in books but also in our dating lives we all. Live together playboy who finds love and could be rehabilitated which. By the way I think it's a complete myth but. Your Valiant has a rich character development who was this character for you I have to admit I kept seeing Denzel Washington in my writing this someone with such a blinding smile and but you know the thing that fascinates me about Denzel Washington's character is that there is a vulnerability about so many of the characters that he plays right and I felt that at the heart of the valley character that there was something about him that made him vulnerable to falling in love and I never saw that in the any of these versions I felt no other version got to the heart of of why this is and that's why the Jackie Robinson event is key in this book that he sees Jackie Robinson crossed the color line he's present the day that happens in baseball and he starts to see well maybe there is a reason to be a better person and that's that's sort of swimming around in his brain but then when he's in the process of trying to seduce Elizabeth Townson he unexpectedly finds out that there is good in the world this woman affirms that for him confirms that for him and she says she lets him see that there's not only good in the world is good for him and it brings out something in him that he just does not expect this race function in the book for you you know on a certain level I wanted to write a book where that question wasn't there and yet it's still bubbles up even when that wasn't you know my intention Here's a man who has all the money in the world and yet he knows that there's a limit to who he can be and what he can be so why why be good but Jackie Robinson touches his humanity in a certain way you know people are throwing stuff at Robinson calling him all sorts of names but he tipped his hat to the crowd and he behaved in a very gentle and like way and that touches Val You know so he realizes you have to live above this ugliness in the world and so even though I didn't intend to go that route it came up anyway because that's what it is it's here it's all around us. Sex we have to talk about. Yeah because obviously it's such a huge part of the story in all of its incarnations and yours in particular. Curious how do you write good sex scenes because here's a good I mean how do you do that without without it sort of devolving into just sort of something a little bit pure Oh yeah and cartoonish for that I think sometimes writers approach sex scenes as something that they're trying to describe but it's really about expressing what is actually happening to a person not just the physical aspect but you know how it captures your spirit when you really connect with someone physically so I don't know I can't describe it other than to say I was just trying to be real the woman in the book really own their own sexuality and they are some are on a voyage of discovery others are simply claiming their ground on this was that important to have the women really own their sexuality in this yes I loved being able to to show that journey from all of these different angles from a woman who is so skilled and seductive as May is and then you have someone like Elizabeth who is a grown woman and beautiful and yet does not know who she is actually but then you have this young woman subtly who is totally naive you know she's a teenager when we meet her and yet it's all one it's like this is the same road and all of these women are on different parts of it and to see where it can take them and where they choose to take this road when they're on it it's huge for them you know they change was there something personal that inspired you to take that journey I suppose I'm fearless in a certain way in terms of my physical being and I've been told the. I can be intimidating and it's only an intimidation that comes of just being confident the way I move through a room but to me it's like well that's not just me anybody can be like and I've been on a journey to come to this point so if I can show how this journey can turn out for other people you know maybe that can help I don't know I inspire inspire Yeah. Soprani Ascott is the author of un forgivable love thank you so much it will completely. Maine did something that was revolutionary in education 15 years ago it gave every one of its 7th and 8th graders a laptop the program expanded later to include some high schools it's still the only statewide initiative in the country costing $12000000.00 a year Maine Public Radio's Robbie Feinberg looks at its impact the whole Encyclopedia Brittanica when Maine's then Governor Angus King 1st proposed the program in 2000 he saw it as something transformational the internet was still relatively young but King wanted every student in Maine to have access to it here he is talking about the program on Maine Public television back then go into history class and the teacher says Open your computer and let's go to Rome dot com And we're going to watch an archaeologist explore the catacombs this morning in real time what a learning tool that it was Alison no relation or was just a toddler when the governor was making these announcements but now as a high school senior in Gorham Maine Allison says she couldn't imagine school without her laptop I use my laptop like 95 percent of the day and for most of my classes load of stuff for the 2nd Alison uses it all the time in this class American politics her teacher James Welsh says when he arrived in Gorham 7 years ago he'd never seen so many of his students with computers so he jumped headfirst into integrating them into his lessons there's like how can I draw on the amazing resource of the Internet who are like we can put the world on the desk of each students now publish blog posts read each other's work in the center one and other videos and articles all online but Walsh's paperless push has also come with some roadblocks you notice that when some students turned in their essays online there was a disconnect between paragraph. Laughs in a single day for a single piece of writing. You can also see there's an increasing you know copy and paste Welsh learned what a lot of teachers and policymakers in Maine have come to realize over the past 15 years Amy Johnson researches education policy at the University of Southern Maine one thing that we know is if you just say here is computers at Stetson have a much of an impact on student learning she and other researchers have found that $1.00 to $11.00 student one computer technology implemented the right way increases student learning in subjects like writing math and science those results have prompted other states like Utah and Nevada to look at implementing their own one to one programs in recent years yet after a decade and a half Maine has still yet to see any measurable increases on statewide standardized test scores that's part of why Maine's current Governor Paul Le Page has called the program a quote massive failure but Johnson says it's tough to measure the effects using a simple test and she says teacher training is necessary to get results but the state deemphasized some of that training in recent years so the fact that we're not seeing large scale increases in student learning leads us to suspect that we still need to do some work with helping schools and teachers keep up with the best ways to use technology to improve student learning Johnson says this is created a new kind of divide in Maine students in larger schools with more resources have learned how to use their laptops and more creative ways but in Maine smaller schools many students are still just using Powerpoint and Microsoft word I think it is a real issue for our our snarler and particularly more rural schools some educators also worry that new funding cuts could leave those rural schools even further behind However officials say these challenges should make people forget about the original goal of the program 15 years ago to give every student in every part. I mean access to the same digital tools ready to sign it and Gorm student Nicholas Sharon says he couldn't imagine his social studies class without it I would drop the class act I don't want to look at a newspaper or even know where to get a newspaper. For n.p.r. News I'm Robbie Feinberg in Gore Maine. Earlier this month when I was in Miami reporting on Hurricane Wilma I visited the Miami Dade animal shelter dogs were being dropped off that were lost or they were strays or they'd been abandoned by their owners and one particular puppy caught my eye really hot here only the huge fuzzy The puppy was a tiny 3 month old Jack Russell mix with big brown eyes and tuft of hair he'd been found in a park after the storm and a girl had brought him to the shelter he was slightly bedraggled and he clearly spent the hurricane alone in the rain and wind he had no chip or collar he licked my nose and it was low he really could hear me would feel she was Ok I texted my husband his answer was a scent Oh no oh yes this puppy was going to be mine but 1st I had to wait to see if anyone claimed to know when did so last week I flew back down to Miami to pick up everybody that sees him loves him and wants him living on board his works from Miami Dade animal services and she'd been taking care of the puppy in her office she filled me in on some of his less in Deering antics and likes to go to the bathroom in the joint years office. Or now he chewed up the phone cord but the guy doesn't care. But it all didn't matter when I finally saw his little face and. Now I'm obviously a dog lover to rescue dogs in particular have played an important role in my life when I was suffering from p.t.s.d. Joining the Iraq War I doctored my 1st rescue pets have a valuable role to play in the recovery from trauma her name was Ursa and until the day she died of cancer a few years ago she was one of the most important things in my life we have another rescue called Nana who is wonderful but she's older. And she has trouble keeping up now with my 4 year old daughter. This puppy to a defendant in a storm I had covered in my hometown seemed like it was destined to be mine so the adoptions are still down which is probably the biggest impact because animals continue to come in Alex muñoz is the director of Miami Dade animal services he gave me an update on the recovery fewer people are adopting which happens after a storm because folks are still struggling with the loss of power and property damage he says there also addressing another issue after Hurricane Katrina a federal law allowed shelters to admit people with pets but during Irma the one enough of those pet friendly shelters during the storm which meant people refused to evacuate certain high risk areas we've seen firsthand is unless folks have an option to go with their pets they're not going to go it's a basic need for people as I was finishing up the paperwork and messed up at that showed up with her husband and her one year old daughter also wanting to adopt a dog she said since Harvey in Houston amid so many disasters she'd been affected by the plight of all the animals in need we have a space for it so we wanted to bring him home and gave. Me. My puppy was ready to go the team at Miami Dade said their goodbyes to me and my dog I pappy. And we flew home to d.c. I had not told my daughter about my mission I arrived just before bedtime she was in the living room playing when the puppy and I walked through the door there's something here for. I get a little puppy love. Being needy after a few terrible ideas on what to name him Irmo after the storm Mr Bubbles because I thought it was funny stormy which is self-explanatory we settled on Kiko he's been making himself at home yes he is rambunctious he's peed on a few carpets and he's chewed a few tables but my daughter adores him she sleeps with him every night and he cries at the window when she heads to school. Music was written by b.j. Leiderman Thanks for listening this is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Luke r.c.n. Of our support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from Babble a language app that teaches real life conversations in a new language including Spanish French and German dabbles 10 to 15 minute lessons are available in the app store or online at Babble b.a. . Dot com from the mosaic foundation of Rita and Peter Hayden based in Ann Arbor honoring the passion of n.p.r. Journalists all around the world whose stories take us there every day and from listeners like you who donates to this n.p.r. Station. And you are listening to cage with you and cage a few h.d. 90.5 Arcadia cages are 91.9 present 30 and Kate s.g. 89.9 Garberville it's a minute before 9 o'clock here's campus connection this is campus connections with humble State University president Lisa Ross Bachar recent protests on college campuses across the country have heightened my interest in the history of student activism I was a junior in high school and 4 students were killed at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4th 1970 this was a critical event in the history of both our country and higher education and I've just read the recent book 67 shots Kent State the end of American innocence by Howard Means the book is an interesting relevant and well research study of what happened at Kent State on that day the author had access to extensive archives and yet the book offers no clear message about what happened and how it could have been prevented a major contributing factor was poor communications which is still a challenge on college and university campuses today limited planning was another issue the university's only plan to address student protests was for the highway patrol to take over the campus no one of thought about the governor calling in the National Guard and so Kent State was unprepared for the scenario Another factor was that the university's leadership the president and all the vice presidents were off campus when the noon protest rally was schedule.